.NET runtime
Ranked 7 of 11 language runtimes by recommenders
Praised for speed and multicore scaling, and as the base for C# software. Most common caveat: it adds tens of megabytes and an extra install step.
Praised for speed and multicore scaling, and as the base for C# software. Most common caveat: it adds tens of megabytes and an extra install step.
20 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 9
- approval share
- 55%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Strong performance and multicore scaling
“It scales to dozens of cores, maybe hundreds in a single process.”
Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “.NET 10” “I ran benchmarks, showing 2-10x+ improvements.”
Comment from 13 Nov 2025 in “.NET 10” Good base for C# software
“Excel and Visual Studio, .NET Runtime and C#, Windows 2000 were among the best things for their time”
Comment from 24 Nov 2025 in “1M Downloads of Zorin OS 18” “The CLR is the reason most C# games are moddable.”
Comment from 11 Sep 2026 in “Rust is tier-1 language at Microsoft”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Opaque runtime and GC behavior
“It's a bit of a black box - who knows when it actually works?”
Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “C# in Unity 2026: Features Most Developers Still Don't Use” “The GC in DotNet is a source of major frustration for a tool like this.”
Comment from 21 Oct 2026 in “Tsrs: A Port of TypeScript to Rust” Adds large size and memory use
“Any .NET program is opting you into tens of MBs of binary/lib size and RAM usage”
Comment from 12 Jul 2026 in “G#: A modern .NET language with Go, Kotlin, and Swift ergonomics” “you also got to have .NET runtime right? so it is bloat”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “OpenNode – Bitcoin Payment Processor” Extra install and dependency hassle
“Then I'll need to install .NET runtime first, which I know I won't ever use for anything else.”
Comment from 25 Dec 2025 in “Microsoft Agent Framework” “some .NET or Visual C++ redistributable hell when you just get a cryptic error”
Comment from 13 Nov 2025 in “Steam Frame” Confusing CLR naming changes
“Microsoft management has decided CLR has a new meaning, C# Language Runtime.”
Comment from 24 May 2026 in “dotNET (OK, C#) gets union types” “Microsoft has forgotten what the C means”
Comment from 24 May 2026 in “dotNET (OK, C#) gets union types”
Other language runtimes people recommend
The four most recommended other language runtimes, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .NET | 293 | 148 | 66% | 12 | 10 yrs28 owners | — |
| BEAM (Erlang VM) | 80 | 25 | 76% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Java Virtual Machine | 42 | 23 | 65% | 12 | — | — |
| JVM | 39 | 22 | 64% | 11 | — | — |
| .NET runtimeThis page | 11 | 9 | 55% | 7 | — | — |
What people said
19 of the 21 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“they were still written at least partially in unsafe C++”
“The GC in DotNet is a source of major frustration for a tool like this.”
“The CLR is the reason most C# games are moddable.”
“Outside the browser there is hardly any value, just use JVM or CLR directly.”
“you also got to have .NET runtime right? so it is bloat”
“Any .NET program is opting you into tens of MBs of binary/lib size and RAM usage”
“Microsoft management has decided CLR has a new meaning, C# Language Runtime.”
“Microsoft has forgotten what the C means”
“the .NET CLR (runtime) is a bit overcomplicated with a distinct 'Java smell'”
“It's a bit of a black box - who knows when it actually works?”
“thrown away with .Net and C#”
“the current situation is silly”
“Personally I don't see 9 MiB as a big deal”
“It's another example of how they have completely abandoned any attempt at providing a good user experience across their products”
“Then I'll need to install .NET runtime first, which I know I won't ever use for anything else.”
“Excel and Visual Studio, .NET Runtime and C#, Windows 2000 were among the best things for their time”
“some .NET or Visual C++ redistributable hell when you just get a cryptic error”
“I ran benchmarks, showing 2-10x+ improvements.”
“It scales to dozens of cores, maybe hundreds in a single process.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.